


Scarlet

by LokMOtH



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Dark, Death, Drama, F/M, One-Sided Relationship, Romance, Sex, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:01:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27713777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokMOtH/pseuds/LokMOtH
Summary: After running away from Dirtmouth, Bretta is cold and starved. She seeks warmth, a companion... A scarlet flame.Discovering a mysterious pit of red fire, the freezing bug ignites it for the sake of her survival. Little does she know that there is a tent and a Troupe Master waiting for her back home, along with a twisted, dark ritual... and a new crush.
Relationships: Bretta/Grimm (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Scarlet

'Through dream I travel, at a lantern's call, to consume the flames of a kingdom's fall'

~Troupe Master Grimm

Bretta scrambled onto the short ledge, her tired feet scraping the air limply to boost her gouty body upwards. She heaved exhaustively, digging her claws into the brittle ground, and lifted one leg over the ledge... then the other. She shivered as a rush of freezing air slapped her face.

How long had it been since she had realized Zote as a simple, arrogant jerk? Perhaps a couple of weeks. But to her, it felt like it had only happened yesterday, the passion of disappointment and anger burning holes through her chest repeatedly like fiery arrows. She felt impossibly trapped as she recounted the drama that had happened that day.

She was listening to his speech with mild interest. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her White Saviour slip into her house. She didn't get up to stop them, however. She didn't have much to hide. Not like they could tell anyone, either. They didn't even have a mouth!

She could hear the void descend into the crypt beneath her room; the statue...

When they had come out again, battered from what appeared to have been one terrible, but victorious fight, she had lost all interest in Zote's story. To her, he seemed just like Ghost... A horrible little creature... She stole the Grey Prince's wooden nail, 'Life Ender', and hid it in her shell. Zote didn't even notice. That arrogant narcissist.

Then Bretta ran for the Cliffs, like the weak, pathetic coward she was. She fled because she knew nobody would ever care for her if she remained there. She had to find her lover. She was tired of waiting to be rescued from a hero that never existed.

Bretta shivered again as a sharp gust of unforgiving wind stabbed at her weak body, stealing the last of her body warmth and whisking it away; snuffing out the last of her hopes. The beetle was stricken with a morbid realization. Bretta was going to die here.

Her legs buckled.

She cried out with the wind's insubordinate howling, dropping to the cold ground weakly. Her body spasmed as it forced the last of her energy into making body heat. She cried out again, tears threatening to ooze out of her eyes. This was is for little Bretta, the girl that nobody cared about.

"Just take my life already," she whispered hoarsely to a tiktik that'd been slowly creeping toward her.

The creature nuzzled her warningly. A warning to move off of its territory. She shuddered. It was warm. She needed warmth... its warm touch left her. The tiktik glowered at her.

Bretta clasped her arms around the tiktik and hugged it tightly to her chest. She shuddered with comfort as its little body radiated heat. It was now hers. They could share its warmth.

The creature disagreed, unfortunately. It made a strange gurgling sound, then bit the beetle, its teeth sinking into her exoskeleton with an emphatic 'crunch'.

It took her a moment to register the pain. She fell into a void of thought, her mind working to no avail to process what had just happened. She felt as though someone had plunged her underwater. She flailed weakly in deaf panic. Then the pain attacked viciously. Bretta cried out in shock, dropping the little beast. She stumbled out of its way, her lethargized body instinctively blaring with one thought.

Escape.

The white monstrosity pounced at her, an ability that Bretta assumed would be impossible for this type of creature... If she hadn't just witnessed it do so. It sank its teeth into her again, this time drawing a small amount of oozing green hemolymph.

She kicked at it, then staggered to her feet and ran as fast as she could. Her body flared to life like a roaring inferno; adrenaline pumped through her lightweight body like a tsunami. Her head throbbed with both fear and resistance. Fear of being killed, and then the open thought of just accepting her fate. She felt nauseated, her head throbbing... with more resistance than fear... '

Let it finish you...'

"NO!" Bretta shouted at herself, empowering the tiktik to continue its game of chase.

The cliffs screeched angrily at her, thrusting gale after gale of wind at in an attempt to push her back to the vile tiktik. Back to death. She resisted, finding a new strength by dropping on all fours and scuttling like the horrible creature chasing her.

Like a beetle.

The tiktik followed behind her, a lot swifter than she had anticipated, and snapped its jaws around her leg. She screamed, grabbing onto another ledge in hopes to crawl away from the pain as the tiktik started to feast on her frail body.

As it did so, another tiktik came by, noticed her touching its territory, and bit her upper arms and neck, creating smaller, but equally painful gashes in her malnourished husk.

Bretta felt moved with anger. Accepting a fate from the first tiktik was one thing, being eaten alive by another was entirely different. She smacked at the second tiktik, and it stumbled backward, momentarily stunned. The first one took advantage of her distraction and crawled up her back, ripping out another small chunk of her exoskeleton. More hemolymph. Bretta screeched again, instinctively covering her face with her worn-out claws in an attempt to protect her eyes. She could feel the second one crawling onto her, looking for a good section of her body to consume.

The wind died down, allowing her a second chance to run. She didn't truly want these monsters to eat her, did she?

Bretta stood weakly, ignoring the little monsters momentarily so she could scramble over the ledge. The tiktiks hissed angrily, clinging to her with their claws, digging into her exoskeleton. She bit her lip. The tears she had fought so hard to hold back before burst forth like waterfalls, streaming down her cheeks and dropping to the cold dirt.

"Somebody help! I-I didn't mean it before!" she sobbed, charging into a crumbling wall blindly. She flailed in alarm as the tiktiks leaped onto her.

It shuddered from the weight of all three of them (and Bretta's jerky movement) before breaking to reveal a hidden passageway. The wind started up again, angry at her discovery.

She stumbled through it, trying to shake the tiktiks off. They ripped at more of her fragile exoskeleton with their claws, hungrily biting at her flesh in a mad frenzy. Bretta was so occupied with removing the monstrosities that she didn't notice the rock protruding from the ground, weakly attempting to stop her from going further. She tripped on the small dike, the stone dashing her leg.

By now she could only feel numbness. There was too much pain everywhere to even focus her vision on her leg. The tiktiks lost their hold on her and Bretta hit a surprisingly warm floor. The terrible monsters lay in a daze next to her.

She got up before the tiktiks could recuperate enough to start their attack again, and sprinted. Her legs screamed at her to stop. They couldn't handle any more of this. She needed to just crumple onto the floor, and give up.

She wanted to go back home! To her dwelling, where everything was safe... She stumbled, making a gurgling sound, and collapsed, feeling too exhausted to move. The beetle coughed up more hemolymph, which pooled around her shaking form, clinging stickily to her wrecked claws. One of the smaller bugs screamed. Bretta staggered to her feet, body tensed up with instinct.

She had to keep going, but she just could not. She could hear the tiktiks coming from behind, and a could see a wall coming closer from ahead. In front of the wall was a small fire pit filled with dying red embers. Her gut twisted, swallowing her last hope and blending it with her despair, creating a vortex of fear.

She cried out, dodging the pit and skidding to a halt in front of the wall. She turned slowly, expecting the tiktiks to be there and ready to consume her living body, but they took one look at the haunting glow from the red embers and fled.

Bretta sobbed aloud with relief, standing a little longer to see if the tiktiks would return. When they didn't, she sat down near the dying flame and peered cautiously at the strangely colored embers dotting the coal. She needed some wood to stoke it. Suddenly remembering the nail she had stored in her shell, Bretta took Life Ender and jabbed at the fire weakly.

It sparked briefly, hot coals threatening to leap out of the pit before returning to its dying residence. She jabbed again; this time harder, forcing the embers to take flight; and again. A small flicker of fire attempted to ignite the dead lantern. Bretta grew furious with a sudden realization. She could've used the nail to kill the tiktiks!

Bretta smacked the fire one last time, breaking the nail in half. The pit burst to life with a vicious red light. Fire shot into the room like a volcano. She ducked, covering her face with her claws as embers singed her body with quick bites before dying. The fire ignited a strange-looking torch that Bretta hadn't noticed before, filling the room with the haunting warmth of the scarlet flames before sinking to an average height. The bug shuddered with malaise, staring into the dancing flames for a long moment.

Finally, she lifted the silence by speaking quietly to herself. "Well, at least I'm warm."

The warmth was different, however. It was not the usual warmth of a normal fire pit or her bed in the morning. It was a strange, almost eerie warmth. Alive, like a living creature. Like the tiktik. But also angry. Desperate. Fearful.

She didn't care, really. If it was warm, it was warm. And she was going to stay here until she had the strength and courage to return to Dirtmouth where Iselda and the other townsfolk could fix up her wounds.

\--

Upon entering Dirtmouth, Bretta noticed something strange. A large, ominous tent was set near Sly's shop. Another, smaller one not too far away from it emitted soft humming noises. Elderbug gaped at the strange sight with horror. Behind him, leaning against the bench, Iselda, Sly, and Cornifer watched from a distance. Zote continued to babble listlessly to himself. Probably about his missing 'nail'. Or maybe he still thought she was there, listening to him. Or maybe he had never seen her sitting there, attentive at all.

Maybe he just didn't care.

Bretta managed to shake her head slightly to show her disgust. Zote was totally not worth it. She made a mental note to destroy the sculpture of him that resided in her basement.

When the villagers noticed Bretta's mauled figure, they snapped out of their daze immediately. Iselda rushed at her, fussing over her battered shell and exoskeleton like a mother chicken. Cornifer and Elderbug disappeared, returning with Lifeblood seeds. Sly ran back to his shop and locked the door, most likely defending his medicine from being taken without exchange for geo.

"What happened, dear?" Iselda asked once Bretta was seated in a comfortable position on her bed. The taller bug wound bandages around her wrist and arms, while Cornifer mixed up an agglomeration of herbs together in a bowl.

Bretta felt embarrassed as she retold her story with the tiktiks and the mysterious fire pit. As she concluded, the beetle noticed Ghost standing in the doorway, watching the scene with a stoic expression. That made Bretta feel even worse. Ghost, though a beast, could've easily taken down the tiktiks with one swift movement. How else would they have rescued her from a tragic fate down in the Fungal Wastes, amidst the terrifying Mantis Tribe?

They approached her slowly, almost as if they were testing to see how she'd react. When she gave none, they came to a complete stop next to her. Beady black stared into pools of the empty void, Bretta felt curious, almost. Then, out of their cloak, they produced a small, delicate flower and put it on her bed.

"Oh!" Bretta's eyes widened. "T-thank you..."

Ghost, who had been leaving, turned and spared her a glance before walking out the door. Bretta stared after them with a flurry of emotion. Gratefulness, longingness... disgust. She didn't know what to make of Ghost. Zote had claimed them to be a terrible monster. But they had never done anything to the townsfolk, or Bretta for that matter. In fact, anything Ghost had ever done had benefitted the town.

Zote must've been jealous over something that Ghost did, Bretta supposed. Or maybe Ghost did do something to Zote... Maybe they were fighting over me!

Bretta shook her head, feeling too tired to theorize the relationship between the two. Two creatures fighting for her was surprisingly dull to think about.

Bretta turned back to Iselda. The pretty bug shot her an understanding smirk, patting her bandaged clippers, while Cornifer applied the medicine to her other bite marks. Bretta winced at the immense stinging sensation as it tore into the wounds dotting her neck, devouring any trace of infection.

"Those tiktiks did quite the damage," the cartographer observed.

"Must be mating season," Iselda said casually. "tiktiks aren't usually aggressive enough to do... This," she gestured to the mutilated bug with a manicured claw.

"Y-yeah," Bretta winced again as Cornifer painted her back with disinfectant.

"Why did you even leave?" Elderbug muttered from the doorway. "It's a lot safer... and warmer here."

"I..." Bretta stared at her bandaged claw. "I... I dunno. I was too upset... over Z-Zote... I guess."

"Want me to bash him in the head for you?" Iselda asked kindly.

"Oh! No... No, it wouldn't do much to change his opinion."

"I remember that runt disturbing my sleep to tell me my best customer was a monster," Cornifer muttered, his face darkening.

"And me," Elderbug pipped up.

"He told everyone that story," Iselda said, standing up. "You'd have to be an idiot to believe him." She noticed Bretta turn away, face flushed with embarrassment, and blinked, words tumbling out of her mouth with sudden regret. "Not that you're an idiot, dear. Little Ghost is just dear to us all. He saved our village from dying off... You know...?"

"If you like Zote, you are a Zote." Elderbug sneered mercilessly.

"I-I don't like him. He's a horrible, self-centered b-beast..." Bretta huffed. She turned to Elderbug, gesturing to the old burlap satchel curiously with her damaged claw.

"Food," the old insect explained, pulling out a cooked vengefly.

Bretta accepted the gift gratefully, taking a large bite out of the juicy meat. Her mouth exploded with pleasure at the rich taste; and before she had even swallowed, she was taking another bite. "Thank you, Elderbug."

The old bug nodded. "I bought it off of Sly."

"Speaking of which," Iselda said, sitting down next to Bretta. "If you're going to go into the other parts of Hallownest again to explore, Sly could train you beforehand. He used to be a great nailsage, you know."

"And you as well, my dear," Cornifer added, giving his wife a peck on the cheek. Iselda smiled. "You'd be cheaper, I think." he turned to Bretta. "Feel free to purchase any maps from my store if you need them."

"Okay," Bretta nodded. "Thank you... Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without all of your kindness."

\--

When all her wounds had been tended to, and her vengefly finished, Cornifer left to close up shop, and Elderbug left to tend to the flower Ghost had given him.

Iselda stayed until she felt certain that Bretta would be alright. When the beetle dismissed her, she made to return to her home to eat supper. Iselda wanted to finish the chapter in the book she had been reading, called 'Dark Side of the Moon'. It was a tragic love story between two magical beings. One a slum, and the other a princess. She had just reached the climax of the story when Elderbug screamed out that a circus had taken over the town.

Iselda had run for her nail before charging out, expecting clowns and acrobats with nails, needles, and pin-swords holding Elderbug captive, maybe even trying to kill him. She was shocked when all she saw was a big, scarlet tent with a haunting accordion song disrupting the still air. None the less, it was strange. She had stayed out with Cornifer, Sly, and Elderbug to try and theorize what they were doing here (with Zote babbling listlessly in the background) when Bretta had arrived.

Iselda glanced at the ominous red tent as she exited Bretta's home instinctively, her claws curling with malaise. Ghost stood at the entrance with a stoic expression, their perfect nail almost glowing against the light of the scarlet torches. The tall bug almost dared to say they looked... determined.

"I'd leave going in there until morning, dear," she said, strutting over to them. Ghost looked up at her, cocking their head to the side. Ghost didn't answer. They never did. They didn't even have a mouth! "If you'd like, I can go with you. I don't trust whoever put these here. That music is giving me the creeps," Iselda continued. She blinked slowly as a new thought developed in her mind. Iselda had never seen Ghost go into their home. She wondered if they even had a home. Ghost was constantly on the run and had seldom ever stayed in Dirtmouth for longer than an hour, maybe two tops. "Do you have a place to stay?"

Ghost recapitulated to stare at her blankly for a moment. Then they nodded slowly, pointing to the bench.

Iselda shook her head. "No, that won't do at all. There are plenty of houses for the taking, you know," she gestured to the sea of abandoned homes. "All you have to do is fix one up and find some stuff to use as furniture."

Ghost stared at the home her claw was pointing at. They ventured over to it and pulled out a simple key. They entered and closed the door, reappearing in a window by pulling aside a tattered curtain to wave at her with childlike glee. They seemed happy. She smiled at the void's antics and returned the wave until they vanished from the window.

Iselda turned back to the rest of Dirtmouth and walked to her home. Just as she was about to call out to her husband, a strange-looking bug left the tent, making a beeline towards her.

"Mmm... Master requests the summoner's presence at once," he breathed in a minion-like way.

"Master? Summoner?" Iselda felt puzzled. She turned to face the creature.

"Mmmm... Yes... the one who ignited the lantern... the scarlet fire."

"Scarlet..." Iselda blinked, alarmed. She remembered the story Bretta told her. "Bretta! Oh no, you aren't going to bother Bretta. She needs to rest and heal right now. She was in a terrible accident."

"But Master-"

"I don't care what your so-called 'Master' said. Tell them that they can see Bretta when she is fully recuperated... and we know you all aren't hostile."

"...Master won't be pleased..."

The bug took off, back to the ominous red tent. Iselda watched him leave, feeling vexatious... and worried for Bretta. Would the leader of that strange place come to take her? What did they want? Iselda glanced at the home Bretta had inhabited.

She was going to make sure that 'Master' wasn't planning on doing anything to Bretta before she allowed them to see her. And if they were hostile... They were going to regret even breathing in Dirtmouth.

**Author's Note:**

> Something to Note,
> 
> Dark Side of the Moon is a fanfiction my friend made. You can find her account here:
> 
> https://www.wattpad.com/user/SapphireSkyes
> 
> And the story here:
> 
> https://www.wattpad.com/story/203076508-dark-side-of-the-moon
> 
> Dark Side of the Moon is an MLP fanfiction, centered around Lunbra, and it's good. Even if you aren't a part of the My Little Pony fandom, I'd suggest reading it. She gives proper descriptions to all the characters, so you don't even have to watch the show to understand.


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